56 The Lugbara Bible 1966, though considered a Protestant Bible by those at
Lodonga, was acceptable as a reference for Catholics, particularly for the Old Testament; the main obstacle to its use in that area is the fact that it is not in the local
dialect. There is a New Testament in the northern dialect 1978, which is used by the Catholics. Catholic interest in the local languages has a long history in this part of the
world, an excellent example being Fr. Crazzolara, whose linguistic work on Lugbara 1960 has already been cited.
3.2.4.6.2. Among Lugbara dialects
All the respondents said that when they spoke with Lugbaras from other dialect areas, they used their own dialects and if they did not understand each other would
switch to another language. Two did claim some knowledge of other dialects, the person from Ayivu who knew a little Terego and someone from Aringa said he greeted
people form Maracha and Terego in their own dialects. One of the Terego men had a Maracha wife, but he didn’t specify which dialects they used in the home.
In answer to the question about purity of dialects, the Ayivu speaker answered narrowly, listing three villages in Ayivu county; the Vurra speaker answered broadly,
listing Ayivu, Vurra, Terego, and Maracha. The Maracha speaker answered just as broadly: Maracha, Ayivu, Vurra, and Terego. One Terego speaker said the purest
Lugbara was spoken in the Nyadri Division of Maracha county; the other cited Terego, Maracha, and Ayivu. One person from Aringa said his dialect alone was purest; the
other two, like so many of those from elsewhere, listed four “pure” dialects: one said Aringa, Maracha, Ayivu, and Terego, and the other said Ayivu, Maracha, Terego, and
Aringa. Both speakers of ‘southern Madi’ listed Okollo alone as the ‘pure’ Madi dialect.
3.2.5 Madi 3.2.5.1 Background
3.2.5.1.1 Geography, demography, and administration
The Madi area in Sudan extends from Nimule on the Ugandan border north to Moli. The northern dialect is referred to as Burulo and is spoken in Moli, Kerepi, and parts
of Opari. Lokai is spoken in Nimule, Loa, Pageri, Kerepi and parts of Opari. In Uganda Madi is generally divided between East Bank Adjumani and West Bank
Moyo. However, there are dialects in the east, such as Pakele and Zaipi which are quite distinct and could use further comparison. The people around Moyo recognize
Metu, in the hills above Laropi, to be the true origin of Madi language and culture.
Tucker also calls the southern Sudanese dialect “Lokai Ma’di” but says that those in the north speak “Pandikeri Ma’di”, which is more closely related to Moru the
language of greatest interest to Tucker than Lokai is. He adds 1967:7 I have heard of a third dialect BURULO said to be spoken around Nimule,
but was unable to follow it up. The few words I met with were like Pandikeri.
57 The Burulo people in Opari are culturally referred to as the “Bori” people. The Bori
people are blacksmiths by trade. According to one source, they originally migrated from the Burulo areas of Kerepi and Moli and settled in Opari during a time of
famine. Also see section 3.2.5.6.
According to the Ethnologue Grimes 1988:335, there are over 200,000 Madi speakers in Uganda alone data from 1976. This would be a slight overestimate if
Madi population is still 1.2 of the total Ugandan population as reported by Ladefoged et al. 1972:20. It is certainly an overestimate for our purposes if it
includes “Madi” people in Okollo County, whose speech we are treating as a Lugbara dialect. According to 1983 population figures obtained in the government office in
Arua, there were 40,922 people in West Madi county near Moyo and 48,789 in East Madi county near Adjumani, equivalent to the Ladefoged team’s “Oyuwi. Based on
these figures, there would be approximately 90,000 Madi speakers in Uganda. A 1996 reports more like 120,000 Ugandan and Sudanese Ma’di in the region.
The only population estimate we have for Sudan is 18,000, estimated in 1982 by SIL op.cit., p. 314. It is not possible to provide accurate Madi population figures in
Sudan because of the war: not only is their area inaccessible, but many Sudanese Madi are displaced and have moved into Juba or Uganda. An undocumented report from the
Norwegian Church Aid agency gives the current Madi population in Juba as 6300.
The Lulubo are found east of the Madi, in Sudan. We are not aware of any in Uganda. Total Lulubo population was estimated at 15,000 in 1985 Grimes 1988:313.
3.2.5.1.2 History
It would appear that the Madi, like the Lugbara, have occupied approximately the same location for hundreds of years Tucker 1967:25. Tucker says that Calonne-
Beaufaict and Czekanowski postulate “a Nilotic strain in the Logo and especially the Ma’di tribal groups” p. 26, but he himself sees no linguistic traces of this p. 54
note. Czekanowski “places the final splitting of the Ma’di tribe in the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the Azande reached Yei” pp. 36-37.
3.2.5.2 Lexical Similarity among Madi Dialects
The following is the matrix of cognate percentages for the three Madi dialects surveyed, as well as Luluba, including the margin of error based on about 170 items
for Madi and about 150 items for Lulubo:
Luluba 83±4.2 Burulo
80±4.6 98±1.3 Lokai 80±4.7 96±1.8 99±0.9 MoyoAdjumani Ugandan
The Luluba data used for these calculations are a composite of the 100-item wordlist taken in 1988 by Dick Watson and another fifty-five or sixty items form
Tucker’s data. The second half of Dick Watson’s Luluba word list was taken in 1991 and was not entered into WordSurv when the calculations were made. The Lokai and
58 Moyo lists differed on only two items out of 168, the adjectives ‘many’ and ‘full’
139, 140; the Lokai and Burulo lists differed on only three items out of 172, namely 123 ‘wind’, 147 ‘to show’ and 167 ‘to walk’.
There is strong lexical evidence for the definition of Lulubo as a separate language from Madi. On the other hand, there is practically no lexical basis for the division of
the Madi forms surveyed into three separate dialects. The ‘ratio of degrees of phonetic difference’ matrix:
Luluba 26
Burulo internally 7
27 12 Lokaiinternally
10
32 19 17 Ugandan
Our interpretation is that the Lokai and Burulo dialects are a little more phonetically similar than either with MoyoAdjumani, and a little less similar than two
speakers of the same dialect ‘internal’ figures cited on the diagonal. The distinction between Luluba and Madi is upheld on phonetic as well as lexical grounds.
3.2.5.3 Grammatical Similarity among Madi Dialects
A sketch of the comparative grammar of these Madi dialects appears in Appendix 10 section 3.1.6.3, comparison also with southern Madi and other Lugbara dialects.
The grammatical data collected in Lulubo are not included in that analysis.
3.2.5.4 Intelligibility among Madi Dialects
All respondents agreed that not all Madi speakers speak the same way, but many described the differences as slight variations in spelling and pronunciation. There is
general agreement that they are one people, and all but one respondent agreed with the statement that “all the speakers of Madi were able to understand one another well.” At
other times, however, the Lokai indicated that Burulo was difficult to learn. For example, six young town-dwelling Lokai said they found Burulo the most difficult
Madi dialect to understand. Twenty-four people said that they found Ugandan Madi hardest to understand, though it appeared that some people said “that’s Ugandan
Madi” of any dialect which was not exactly like their own. The difficulty people had in trying to read the Madi New Testament was attributed to the fact that it was in the
Ugandan dialect; Dick Watson observed that orthographic problems made it difficult even for Ugandans to decipher. Joan Bomberger concludes: “We definitely have a
sociolinguistic problem here and not a linguistic difference” worthy of consideration.
The Madi respondents were not asked how well they understood Lulubo.
3.2.5.5 Bilingualism among Madis
The majority of young Sudanese Madi have learned English in primary school. Madis residing in Juba are also usually comfortable with Juba Arabic, unless they
have only moved there recently. The next most frequently known language is Acholi;
59 the Acholis are the Ma’dis’ neighbors to the east. Some Sudanese learned Swahili in
Uganda during the first civil war in the 1960’s. In response to the question concerning which languages a person could read,
English and Madi were mentioned most frequently. Thirty-one people 60 said they could read English and twenty-nine said they could read Madi. Nine said they could
read Acholi, which is unrelated to Madi but neighboring it, and seven reported being able to read Arabic. This latter figure is not surprising when one considers that Arabic
is not often used in southern Sudan in domains associated with writing such as religion and education. Furthermore, none of the other local languages is written in the Arabic
script, and transfer of reading skills between scripts is probably difficult. Note that there is an Arabic track in the Sudanese educational system, but most of the schools in
the Madi area follow the English track. See Appendix 3.
3.2.5.6 Sociolinguistic dynamics among Madis 3.2.5.6.1. Madi Sudan cluster as a whole
A GENERAL
The general language use pattern among Sudanese Madi is to speak Arabic in Juba and Madi in the village. Even in the villages, of course, Arabic is used as a language
of wider communication with traders and non-Madi staff at clinics and hospitals. All Madi interviewed use Madi when speaking with other Madi, and tend to use Juba
Arabic with non-Madi friends. English is used in places of employment or at school.
The general impression of the respondents was that Madi is not being displaced in the rural villages. Five said that English is slowly displacing Madi because children
learn it in school and like to practice it. One person implied that if Madi teaching materials such as those said to have been lost during the first civil war were still
available, the situation would be different. Ten people three from Juba and seven rural Lokai said that Arabic was slowly displacing Madi in the villages, and two more
said this was happening quickly. In one case, it was because trucks regularly camped in the respondent’s home area. The other reported that this was due to the influx of
children who had learned Arabic quickly in Juba and introduced it to the villages. Dick Watson attested to this latter phenomenon: though parents in Juba send their children
to the countryside to learn the mother tongue, ironically the effect is often to increase the spread of Juba Arabic.
However, there was a strong impression that Arabic was displacing Madi in Juba. All the rural Madi, and 80 of all respondents, were of this opinion. One older
respondent claimed that Madi children resident in Juba would not learn Madi unless they were forced to do so. But another older respondent said that even in Juba,
although the children are speaking Arabic, when they have a problem, they will use Madi. The stereotype appears to be that Arabic is taking over in Juba but that the
mother tongue is being maintained in the countryside.
Language attitudes are indicated by the answers to questions 11 and 12. Though most people reported that Madi was the language most important to them question
60 11, English was most important to five respondents, and second to Madi for twelve
others. Arabic was most important to one respondent who was attending secondary school in Juba in Arabic, and second most important to nine others. The main reason
for the popularity of English appeared to be an ambition for education and progress rather than basic communicative needs or possibly its use in the workplace. Nearly
all 52 of 57 respondents expressed the desire that their children know the Madi language best question 12, although there was also a desire that they know English
because of its importance in education. Three respondents, all married to non-Madis, cited their spouses’ languages or Arabic. The other two respondents each had two
preferences: Arabic and English, and Madi and English, respectively. Two other interviewees said that it was their children’s choice.
B EDUCATION
The main hindering force in Madi education has been the disruption of the two civil wars. Lack of funds is also a problem.
However, when the schools are operating, a fairly consistent pattern exists of using Madi for instruction in the earlier primary years and transitioning to English as the
medium of instruction beginning in the fifth year. The use of English in the latter years is further reinforced by the need to prepare for the Primary School Examination given
at the end of the sixth year. Non-Madi teachers do not give classes for the first four grades apart from teaching English and Arabic as subjects.
One teacher interviewed said that the drop-out rate in his school increased after P4, possible evidence that drop-out rates increase as classroom use of the vernacular
decreases. The consensus of Sudanese Madi schoolteachers is that Madi should continue to be
the medium of instruction in the first four years of primary school. Therefore they showed considerable interest in having school materials in Madi, especially since
some can remember when those produced in 1958 were still in greater supply. As they tell it, there were schoolbooks in Madi when they fled to Uganda, but when they
returned form exile after the Addis Ababa peace agreement in 1972, the books were missing. Only a few scattered copies exist presently.
In summary, the Madi people hold realistically to the need to learn English in order to further their education. The pressure of the Primary School Examination also
reinforces the strong drive for English by P5. However, a strong base for Madi vernacular literacy exists. Their schools have always acknowledged the fundamental
importance of beginning primary education in the vernacular, and they enjoy books in their own language. It is probable that continued production of both school and other
reading materials would further the use of Madi literature. In other words, if good Madi material could be developed and promoted, the general attitude indicates that it
would be used and appreciated.
61
C RELIGION Protestant language use and attitudes:
Leaders of three different Protestant groups were interviewed: the Seventh Day Adventists SDA, the African Inland
Church AIC, and the Sudan Pentecostal Church SPC. One person was interviewed who had attended a chapel run by a fourth denomination, the Episcopal Church of
Sudan ECS, in Nimule for two years.
In Juba, services are held in English and Arabic; however, various language groups, including Madi, present songs in their own local languages. In some congregations,
vernacular songs are apparently reserved for “special” occasions such as Christmas. This was reported for the Sudan Pentecostal Church.
In the rural Madi areas in Sudan, Madi is used for most of the service. Where Acholi neighbors attend, some prayers are said in Acholi SDA or both Madi and
Acholi are used in the service AIC. The man who had attended the ECS church in Nimule said that sermons were preached in Arabic and translated into Madi the
pastor was a non-Madi. Bible reading there was in English and interpreted into local Arabic, and the Madi New Testament was also read. The pastor prayed in English and
Arabic and the Madi people prayed in Madi.
The SDA pastor reported that most of the singing is in Madi, with other songs in Acholi, English, Swahili, and Arabic. At the Nimule ECS chapel, some simple songs
had been translated into Madi. One Pentecostal Bible school instructor said that singing in Madi is a problem because most Christian songs in Madi are from the
Roman Catholic Church and reflect extreme pre-Vatican II doctrines.
A Pentecostal group meeting in Loa for worship, fellowship and prayer has attempted to translate some simple English songs into Madi. The prayers and teaching
were in Madi and both the Madi New Testament and English Bible were read, although only some of the members knew English.
The Madi SDA pastor interviewed said that people often ask for the Old Testament in Madi, and also struggle to translate songs into Madi from Swahili, Arabic, and
English. A Madi AIC Bible student interviewed thinks that English and Madi should be
used equally in services in the countryside, in case there are visitors who don’t understand Madi. He also believes that within the next ten or twenty years, English
should be used: by this time, he says, the people will have progressed in education enough to make this possible. The SPC Bible school instructor agreed.
The SDA pastor said that he is able to read the Madi New Testament with understanding because he is educated and familiar with the message, but he is not sure
how well the people understand it when they read on their own at home. Similarly, the SPC Bible school instructor said that with his educational background he was
comfortable with either the English Bible or the Madi New Testament, but that for others in the countryside a New Testament in the Lokai dialect would be best. The AIC
Bible student has a ministry in the Madi refugee camp and says that when he reads the Ugandan New Testament to people there, he changes it to the Lokai dialect so that they
can understand it.
62
Catholic language use and attitudes: The majority of churches in the Madi area
are Roman Catholic. Catholic priests have been responsible for most of the Madi language development. Various Catholic materials have been printed in Madi, most of
it in Moyo. However, an Italian priest in Juba reported that materials were edited in Loa for the Sudanese. A Madi mass exists in Juba, conducted completely in Madi by
both Italian and Sudanese priests.
Dick Watson visited Moyo, Uganda, in 1988 to investigate whether the Ugandan Madi are much better able to read the Madi Scriptures than the Sudanese. He
concluded that “comprehension is lost by the great number of ambiguities created by failure of the orthography to distinguish tones and ATR vowel quality.” An anecdote is
relevant here. Once committee members in Moyo realized the importance of tone, they demonstrated that they were well aware of minimal word pairs and even minimal
sentence pairs in speech. “One man suddenly thought of the probable meaning of a nonsensical sentence read in the mass each Sunday— the Madi reader had continued
to read it with the wrong tones used by an expatriate priest years before. One man said he had begged the senior priest to only hold services in English because the Madi
readings were so poor.
3.2.5.6.2. Among Madi dialects
Of thirty-four “young” Sudanese Madi under 40 years of age interviewed, all but one had spent some time in Uganda. Many of those over 40 had also spent some time
in Uganda. Yet this does not imply contact with Ugandan Madi; many of the Sudanese interviewees could not think of a concrete incident when they spoke with an Ugandan.
Many of them were refugees in a non-Madi speaking part of Uganda.
This was not the only reason the question concerning which speech form they used with Madis of a dialect different from their own did not yield much helpful
information. The SIL researcher Joan Bomberger postulated that speaking Madi was a subconscious act for many people and some found it difficult to recall which dialect
they used in particular situations.
Among those interviewed in Juba, there were many cases of intermarriage between Lokai and Burulo people in all segments of the adult population, but few Sudanese
Madi had Ugandan Madi spouses. As would be expected, Burulo families spoke Burulo in the home and Lokai families spoke Lokai; there was no clear trend as to
which Madi dialect was preferred in “mixed” homes. Arabic was often used in the home, especially if the parents had different mother tongues.
In answer to the question as to what language Madi people used with their friends, Burulo speakers said they would speak Lokai to Lokai Madis. On the other hand, the
Lokai speakers said they did not use Burulo to speak to their Burulo friends but only spoke Lokai to them. One schoolteacher who had taught in the primary school at Opari
in the mid-70s said that the Madi used in the schools at that time was always Lokai, and even Burulo-speaking pupils were discouraged from speaking their dialect.
63
3.2.6 Moru 3.2.6.1 Background
